NASSCO HUMS WITH SHIPBUILDING, REPAIRS

General Dynamics-NASSCO, the last major shipbuilder on the West Coast, will be busy through the rest of the year. Some of the work is being done at the main NASSCO yard in San Diego. The company also is collaborating on projects with nearby BAE San Diego Ship Repair and Continental Maritime on other projects. Here’s a snapshot of what’s going on and coming up:

NASSCO is wrapping up repair-modernization work this week on the Curts, a 453-foot frigate that will turn 30 next year. The Navy is phasing out frigates like Curts, replacing them with the littoral combat ship. NASSCO also is finishing up work on the frigate Vandegrift, and it’s doing repairs on Antietam, a 567-foot cruiser that will mark its 25th anniversary as a commissioned ship in June.

The company has workers at Naval Station San Diego (NSSD), where they’ll finish work on March 18 on the 610-foot dock transport ship Rushmore, which will turn 21 in June. NASSCO also has workers at NSSD doing repairs and upgrades on the 820-foot amphibious assault ship Peleliu, which turns 31 in May. Peleliu is nearing the end of its service life. Additionally, NASSCO is at NSSD working on the frigate Thach, the 609-foot dock landing ship Comstock, and the amphibious assault ship Boxer.

Further, NASSCO is at BAE helping upgrade the cruiser Lake Champlain and the new destroyer William P. Lawrence.

The schedule calls for NASSCO to send workers to Continental Maritime in July to work on dock landing ship Harpers Ferry. NASSCO already has people at Continental working on the 509-foot destroyer Preble.

NASSCO also is building the César Chávez, a dry cargo ship to be used by the Navy, and the Montford Point, a Navy Mobile Landing Platform ship. The César Chávez will be christened and launched on May 5. NASSCO will build all three MLPs ordered by the Navy. It also appears that NASSCO will perform a major overhaul on the amphibious assault ship Essex, starting later this year.